1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, and an input operating device for use in the same, and particularly to an image forming apparatus having a universal mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case where a copying machine or an image forming apparatus capable of operating complicated functions such as a digital composite machine having a number of functions including copying functions, printing functions, and facsimile transmission functions is installed in a place where unspecified people come to use the apparatus, it has been demanded that the apparatus can be easily used by various users without impairing its high performance which is normally available. To satisfy this demand, in recent years, an apparatus having a standard mode and a universal mode is coming on the market.
The standard mode is intended for the user capable of coping with complicated operations such as non-handicapped people and young and middle-aged peoples. This mode enables the user to set all the functions provided in the apparatus through an input operating device thereof. On the other hand, the universal mode is intended for the user incapable of coping with complicated operations or being unfamiliar with the complicated operations, such as handicapped people, children, and high-aged people. This mode can, although limited to a smaller number of functions, display setting images in an enlarged size to enable the user to easily execute function setting.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-59647 discloses an image forming apparatus which can provide an enlargement display and enables the whole contents to be displayed in scroll in response to a scroll command by a shift key.
However, the enlargement display of this prior art shows a setting image which is merely an enlargement of the setting image of the standard mode, and requires the image scrolling to set a necessary function. Therefore, although improved visibility is provided by the enlargement display, there is the problem of having the difficulty of setting functions which are very frequently used by a simple operation.
Further, as the recent advancement in performance of office automation equipment, a display panel of a copying machine or a composite machine is colored in order to show increased amount of information as much as possible in a small-sized area. For this reason, in the prior art described above, although the enlargement display is easy to see, the people who have color-blindness and weak sight are likely to have an enlargement display represented by the color that they cannot recognize. Accordingly, for such handicapped people, it can be said that the visibility is not improved.
Further, in the prior art described above, an enlargement display is shown by actuating an enlargement key, and a normal display is shown by actuating the same key again. However, in image forming apparatus having multiple functions, such as a composite machine, it is difficult to display all the functions in the universal mode because of the fact that if high-level functions or rarely-used functions are allowed to be settable in the universal mode, the number of hierarchies increases, resulting in complicated setting operations or an increase in the development cost for user interface on the manufacture's side.
Therefore, it is a practical way to reduce the number of functions settable in the universal mode. In the prior art, accordingly, there arises a problem that a complicated operation is required when changing a function settable in the universal mode to a function settable only in the standard mode continuously.
Japanese Patent No. 3613410 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. SHO 62-272286 respectively disclose a technology that enables a skilled user to set necessary functions among many functions in a smaller number of steps. In these prior arts, in place of dividing a function selection display frame showing a hierarchy having many ranks into a plurality of sub-frames, names indicative of the functions are collectively displayed in a small frame, and are made to correspond to numbers. The user specifies the number by operating a ten key to select a desired function. In this manner, the user can set his/her desired functions without conducting the complicated page turning operation.
However, although these prior arts provide the improved operability using ten keys to select a function, such operation is adaptive only for the skilled users as described above, but are not suitable for the users whom the universal mode is directed due to the fact that all the functions are displayed in a single display frame.